Question

Should mankind pray like the jews do and only praise/worship god or is it ok to ask for personal things (isn't it "overbearing")? E.g.: Why pray for a special person. Why not pray for whole mankind?

—Simon, Germany

Answer

Dear Simon,

Let’s say you are wanting to open your own small business, and are looking for advice about the nature of assistance available to small business entreprenuers. Or someone dear to you is having a health crisis and is confined to bed. You want to help them by researching home-care options.

When you go to the offices of the agencies responsible for this kind of assistance, would you merely praise them for their good works, or would you specify your needs?

And would you expect these agencies to do everything for you, or rather to offer you assistance in carrying forward the responsibilities which you have undertaken?

A person of faith and spiritual experience knows that God cares about each of his children far more than social agencies, and the He is willing and able to offer assistance to those who seek it. The enormous power and intelligence that maintains the operation of the universe responds to our needs.

And just as there are people who can help us get through the complicated procedures when requesting a grant from a large foundation, there are spiritual guides who help us in making what Yogananda called our “prayer demands.”

He says: “The first rule in prayer is to approach God only with legitimate desires. The second is to pray for their fulfillment, not as a beggar, but as a son:

“I am Thy child. Thou art my Father. I and my Father are One.”

When you pray deeply and continuously you will feel a great joy welling up in your heart. Don’t be satisfied until that joy manifests; for when you feel that all-satisfying joy in your heart, you will know that God has tuned in your prayer broadcast.

Then pray to your Father:

“Lord, this is my need. I am willing to work for it; please guide me and help me to have the right thoughts and to do the right things to bring about success.

I will use my reason, and work with determination, but guide Thou my reason, will, and activity to the right thing I should do.”

Simon, if you have a real need, then use these guidelines and ask God to be your partner in fulfilling your destiny.

Question

Hello again,

two further qeuestions, please.

1) Should mankind pray like the jews do and only praise/worship god or is it ok to ask for personal things (isn't it "overbearing")? E.g.: Why pray for a special person. Why not pray for whole mankind?

2) Is God almighty? When yes, how can you explain evolution? Why does God need such regulation/circumstances? It rather appears to be an experiment. Is God maybe limited himself?

—Simon, Germany

Answer

Dear Simon,

In response to your second question:

There is obviously a power and an intelligence far greater than we can even comprehend which created the vast universe. Somewhat like a scientist or an inventor creating a mechanism, God has created the universal mechanism. Through observation, we begin slowly to at least appreciate some of its aspects.

One of them is “order.” From geological strata to the complexities of the human system, there seems to be order and patterns which are operative.
There also appears to be a cyclical nature to many of the universe’s functions: the cycles of the seasons, of the movement of the planets and their satellites, of the grow, decline, and transformation of everything from flowers to civilizations. Birth, evolution, decline, transformation.

Is God in charge of the whole show?

Think of a father with a young child of two years old. Relative to the child, the father is “almighty:” he has the strength, the experience, the power, the authority to direct the child or force the child to do anything he wants. But does a wise father do so? He knows that while he must protect the child, he also must permit it to have the experiences necessary that it become in time a wise father. So the wise father uses his wisdom more than his power.

Is God limited by His creation?

Think now of a symphony orchestra, each person playing his own instrument as he follows the musical score. The score is given, how the musician plays it is up to him. And, to a great extent, to the orchestra conductor, who tries to bring out the best in each musician and create a harmonious blend of them all.

Is the majesty of the composition circumscribed by the way in which the players perform and the conductor guides them? Admittedly, Mozart or Beethoven can be badly performed. But that performance in no way diminishes the splendor of the piece.

In a deeply esoteric sense, however, creation itself is a limitation of. Just as one of Mozart’s symphonies does not express the entirety of his genius, so the creation does not express that vastness of God’s infinite consciousness.

Most practically for us, we want to discover which is our instrument and how to play it well, all the time loving the Composer and remaining in awe of His majestic music.

Question

One of my friend is addicted to drug,lives tamasic life,keep her room always very dirty. Many times i have read if you pray to the divine self of the person whom you want to change help's. Will it help in this case too!

—Aditya, United States/India

Answer

Dear Aditya,

The power of prayer is truly astonishing: it helps seeds to germinate, plants to flower, and human beings to overcome their difficulties and limitations and grow in their divine nature.

Your intuition to pray to the divine Self of your friend is precisely what Yogananda recommends as the best way to pray. Her soul is longing to be free from the harmful habits she is manifesting, and when you direct your prayers to that divine soul, they will help her to awaken to her higher consciousness.

Yogananda suggests that you visualize her divine Self at your spiritual eye and focus your loving attention at her spiritual eye. Then ask God to send His love and healing light across the bridge between the two of you. Send this affirmation to her: “You are well, for God is in you..” Repeat is constantly as you pray and let God use you as instrument for her healing.

This is prayer written by Swami Kriyananda, from his book Affirmations and Prayers for Self-Healing:

Lord, The universe was made in Thine image of perfection. Help me to bring out that image in others by blessing them in Thy love.

And as Yogananda says: “The instrument is blessed by that which passes through it.” May you receive many blessings as you serve your friend as a channel for God’s love.

Question

Hello,

My marriage was going through difficult times and recently things have been smooth.Now we were planning for a child.I am already 33 and am worried that time/health may not permit me to conceive later.My husband got an offer to do an MBA and for nearly 20months or so I will have to postpone thinking about a child.I am supporting him in fulfilling his desire but at heart I am attached to my desire.How can I overcome this emotional situation.Pls guide me

—Shruti, India

Answer

Dear Shruti,

Life sometimes brings us situations for which we think that we haven’t the strength, or time or wisdom to solve. But these moments can be precisely what we need in order to find within ourselves a far greater power.

One of the greatest discoveries in life is that love leads us to the greater strength and wisdom within us. Energy is infinite when we love, time is elastic, and God supports us in many ways and through many people.

If you and your husband love each other and love God, you can embark together on a journey that will bring you great joy and inner growth.

Question

Can one visit departed loved ones during Samadhi? (i.e. is it a near death experience)

—Neil, USA

Answer

Dear Neil,

The veil between the astral worlds and the physical are not as impermiable as we imagine. Yogananda says that “a continuous desire to know about a departed soul is the best astral broadcasting that you can send forth.”

In his early Lessons, Yogananda gave specific advise for communicating with these souls, some of which I include here. As he says, be patient and constant,and you will know the inner contact you desire:

By deep, incessant meditation try to get in touch with your dear dead ones. Only meditation, and months, and sometimes years, of patience can bring them to you…

Every night, with closed eyes, concentrate in the Christ Center, or the astral broadcasting microphone of the spiritual eye, and broadcast your good will to your departed ones by mentally saying: ‘Resurrect, and be quickened in God.’ They will get your message. Then sit in silence and try to feel their love, and when you feel exhilarated, know that they have answered you….

Feeling contact in conscious state. If, day and night, you miss a dear friend, then you will have a sort of longing, a soothing presence around your heart. This will indicate to you that this friendly soul is trying to get in touch with you through your feeling, but he cannot materialize himself because of your constant mental restlessness.

Dream contact in subconscious state. If you concentrate upon the feeling that your friend is present, doing this for several minutes just before falling asleep, then that friend will appear to you in a dream.

Conscious contact in the superconscious state. If you carry the feeling of the presence of your departed friend, and then try to concentrate with closed eyes upon the spot between the eyebrows and visualize him, he will appear to you after some time. It may take months, or even years, but if you are patient and keep on every increasing the depth of the astral call of meditation, you will succeed.

Question

Do either Kriyananda or Yogananda, in writing, or speaking, about small spiritually centered communities, address whether large cities and other social and political structures are a necessary infrastructure for the small villiages to survive. Is there an expectation that a few of these can serve as "antibodies" toward the eventual more peaceful world, or will all need to be in villages? It seems that the belief in eventual, universal salvation is a necessary condition for "Ananda's" to work .

—Don, USA

Answer

Dear Don,

Yogananda spoke often, and forcefully, of future global events. A realized Master is able to see past, present and future more clearly than we are able to perceive current events.

He saw great upheavals, natural cataclysms, global economic depressions — the result of which would be hundreds of years of peace on earth. A necessary purification and pruning process that will help humanity on this planet to enter a higher age with an expanded consciousness.

Will anything or anyone survice this transition? Certainly, but what?

The concept of people living together for mutual support and benefit is expressed in numerous ways, one of them being the City. For all of its benefits, the Super-City has now become a grotesque organism that does more harm than good, and hardly serves or protects its inhabitants. It actually cuts them off from important souces of life — like clean water, air, good food.

In Yogananda’s time the population of Calcutta was 50,00′; the population of Los Angeles 1,500,000. Today these cities try to support 15 million and 6 million respectively (not including other surrounding urban areas). They are profoundly non-sustainable. Will they survive in their present form? Probably not, according to Yogananda and Kriyananda’s assessment. Greed, competition, un-sustainability will be their downfall.

But smaller living units, many of which exist all over the earth, possibly will — communities which are sustainable and offer their inhabitants meaningful employment and social, cultural and spiritual activities.

This was Yogananda’s vision: home, job, education, “church” — spiritual structures, cultural and social activities, all in one place, based on principles of “simple living and high thinking.”

Yogananda and Kriyananda talk about (and you can find this in Kriyananda’s book Intentional Communities) smaller communities which are based on cooperation, mutual support, contact with nature and natural resources. And networks of these communities which share goods and services. The Ananda communities are being developed on these principles, and other “non-intentional” communities have these characteristics as well — small communities which by their nature are more sustainable and cooperative. Friends of mine have moved to an island off the coast of Washington State where such a community is thriving.

There is a movement whichis developing “Transition Cities,” which are based on principles of sustainability. Scientists and policy makers in many countries are arriving at the same conclusions, and beginning to establish more liveable towns and smaller cities.

In India there are at least two initiative of this kind: Auroville, established in 1969 with several thousand residents today; and Lavasa, a planned city development outside of Pune, which at build-out in 2015 will have about 100,000 residents I think. Not far from this location, Ananda is building its new world-brotherhood community where hundreds of residents will eventually live.

So, changes are in the air and preparations are being made. If you have not yet visited one of Ananda’s communities, I hope you are able to do so soon. And if your travels bring you to Europe, please stop and see us at Ananda Europa near Assisi, Italy.

Question

What do you do, when you are starting to lose faith in God ?

—TC, Europe

Answer

We sometimes confuse faith with belief. Belief is an intellectual convenience that often lulls us into a state of spiritual passivity. Every now and again something happens in life which is inconvenient, and which makes us question that belief. So what can appear to you to be a loss of faith in God, could actually be an important important opportunity for you to deepen your faith.

For example, I can believe that someone is a good person, and therefore will be a good team leader…or analyst…or father, etc. But only when we work together, or I observe the results of his leadership skills and style, can I truly say that I have faith in him as a leader, or a father, etc.

Faith is the result of personal experience, something you know to be true because you have lived it.

So what of our faith in God: is it really faith, or still belief? Do we just believe that God will be there when we need Him, or do we give Him an opportunity to participate in our life and show us He is there?

Jesus says: Ask and you shall receive; seek and you shall find; knock and the door will be opened. He didn’t qualify this profound spiritual advise by adding: only when you are in deep trouble.

So give God a chance to participate in all your undertakings, your decisions, your projects, your dreams. Ask Him your questions — the little ones, the big existential ones — in deep prayer and meditation, and keep asking until you feel guided to some answers. Let Him be your Coach, your Guide, and in this way put your belief in Him to the test.

Once you open that channel of communication and keep it open, you will have all the proof you need of His love, wisdom and support.

Question

How does one know, when on the journey towards self-realization, when they should let someone pass out of their life- is there certain hallmarks in a relationship that will give straight forward guidance (for one can also see a difficult relation as an opportunity to learn and grow from)? How does one know if a relationship is helping ones growth or stunting it? (as one can tell oneself that the difficulties are meant to be worked through and are a challenge to 1self that needs to be overcome)

—Melissa Bunt, USA

Answer

Dear Melissa,

We often labor over decisions in life, when actually what we want to do is recognize what life is telling us, and the direction in which the flow of life is taking us. Although there are abundant clues showing us the way, we are often blind to them. Our challenge as truth seekers, then, is to really want to know the truth (the ego doesn’t), and to cooperate with it.

There is one sure formula for knowing what is right: ask God sincerely and constantly, in every prayer and meditation, and be open for His answer, which you can feel in your heart once the emotions and desires have been stilled.

Not so easy! But with practice, it gets easier. “Ask and the answer shall be given unto you.” It takes daily practice to learn how to ask in the right way — without prejudice, open to the truth; to clear away our own desires in the matter; to perceive the various ways in which the response will come.

Letting go is an essential part of knowing the truth, letting go of our attachment that things be one way or the other. Swami Kriyananda offers a powerfully effective technique:

“Nothing is ours. No one belongs to us. Mentally, we should make a bonfire of our love for God, and cast into it all attachments, all desires, all hopes and disappointments.
It helps mentally to examine one’s heart every evening, and liberate it anew of all desires. Pluck out from your heart any burrs of new attachments that you find clinging there. Cast them joyfully into the fire of devotion.
Pray to God energetically, “I destroy all my attachments. They are no longer mine, Lord. I am free in Thee!”

If you can do this ,become really detached, you will come to know the signficance of this relationship in your life at this time.

Question

I'm Jewish. I do believe in God, but as a people, we believe the Messiah has not yet come. Therefore, while I believe that Jesus was probably a great man and leader, I do not believe he was the Messiah. I have a deep apprecation for Paramhansa Yogananda, meditate and practice yoga, but want to deepen my spirituality. Can I learn Kriya Yoga?

—ellsj, usa

Answer

Dear Soul Friend,

I, too, was born and raised in an observant Jewish home, and I have been practicing Kriya for nearly 40 years. Religious beliefs can sometimes limit rather than clarify our understanding. They are usually based in some deep spiritual truth, but through the ages and due to human imperfection, the meaning behind these beliefs can become distorted.

The story of Moses is inspiring and deeply symbolic. He lead his “people” out of “slavery” and into the “promised land.” They passed decades in the “desert” where Moses received and gave the “Laws of God.”

In this story Moses is a messiah, come to lead people to freedom. But what was the nature of their slavery? We see that in the desert they made a Golden Idol and began to worship it – symbolic of their egoic, material desires.

Our slavery is self-imposed, and the task-master is the ego. A spiritual master comes, and many have come throughout human history, to show people how to free themselves from inner bondage. They are the Lawgivers for their followers, showing them the inner disciplines that will lead them to freedom.

For many souls their messiah has come, and they are following that master through the desert to their freedom in the promised land of Self-realization. Other souls have yet to seek their messiah.

But you are seeking, and you will find your way to inner freedom. Kriya Yoga will help you find the way which is your way, by introducing you to the Promised Land that lies within your own Self. There are many centers of Kriya in the US where you can learn about Kriya. Try it out and see if it helps you to deepen your spirituality.

What Moses did for the Hebrew people enslaved in Egypt, Kriya Yoga can do for your immortal Self, enslaved by the ego.

Question

At many points mention is made of visualizing 'a light', 'an energy', the spiritual eye, etc.

However, even though I am feeling perfectly relaxed, I am unable to visualize anything — all I have is the darkness in front of me when my eyes are closed.

I do the breathing exercises, but see nothing.

Is this normal or is there some approach which will allow me to visualize as recommended?

—Richard Kennedy, Australia

Answer

Dear Richard,

The ability to visualize is very useful in all aspects of life. Athletes – like gymnasts, divers, even bob-sledders – learn to visualize the feats they wish to accomplish, as a way of focusing their minds and directing their efforts in a particular way. The spiritual principle is that energy follows thought. Another way of expressing this principle is that nothing can be accomplished unless we have a clear idea of what we wish to accomplish.

Everyone is capable of visualizing, but for most people it is an ability that needs to be developed. While some people find it easy to imagine things visually, others find it easier to imagine the feeling of it rather than the visual image. For example, to visualize a waterfall, one could see the water cascading down, or hear the sound of it, or feel the booming power of it, or perceive the sensation of water drops on the skin.

On the spiritual path we are trying to experience higher states of awareness. Great spiritual masters and spiritual scriptures have described these states in terms of certain qualities of light, of sound, of peace, of joy, love, and power. In order to set our efforts in the right direction, we can imagine those exhalted states in terms of what we have experienced already – soothing colors, sounds, feelings.

When you meditate, gaze gently upwards towards the point between the eyebrows, and imagine there a light, any kind that easily comes to mind: a candle light, the light of a fireplace, a sunrise, a burst of fireworks. You can knit your eyebrows together several times to stimulate that center, relax, and try again to imagine. Your efforts at visualizing will in time stimulate actual inner visions.

As an athlete or musician or artist must try many times before achieving a measure of success, the same is true for the aspiring yogi.

Here is an interesting exercise suggested by Yogananda that you might want to try. It might help you in both your meditation and in your dreams:

Sit in your dimly lighted bedroom just before you feel fairly sleepy.

With half-open eyes steadily and simultaneously look at a portion of the room and try to visualize and memorize every detail. All the time will yourself to see all the objects of your vision in a dream and fall asleep while you are visualizing.

In this way you will be able to visualize or produce a mechanical vision of anything, any person, or any place in a dream consciously produced in the subconsciousness.